View All Biblical Expressions

Bread of affliction/adversity

Here’s what it means

The phrase describes meager food eaten in hardship, oppression, punishment, or mourning.

Why the Bible says it this way

An idiom is a familiar phrase whose meaning comes from the whole expression, not from reading each word by itself.

A helpful detail: The bread may be literal food, while “affliction” describes the conditions under which it is eaten.

Where it appears